ROME, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Italian experts have highlighted the reciprocity of the investment agreement reached between the European Union (EU) and China on Wednesday.

The deal has hit the headlines of the country's major newspapers with most of the reports focusing on the new opportunities the pact would open for businesses on both sides.

On Thursday, the Italy-China Foundation welcomed the agreement "with great satisfaction."

It is "undoubtedly positive because it will ensure balanced exchanges and opportunities with the world's largest market," Mario Boselli, president of the foundation and a textile entrepreneur, said in a statement.

According to Boselli, advantages offered by the deal include the reciprocity granted to European and Chinese companies in accessing the respective markets and the acknowledgment of shared rules and principles.

In a short analysis published soon after the agreement was announced, Italy's Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) said the deal was important "for its commercial nature" given that China stayed as the EU's biggest trade partner.

According to Eurostat, the trade volume between EU and China stood at around 477 billion euros (585.9 billion U.S. dollars) in the first ten months of 2020, up by 2.2 percent year-on-year.

"Therefore, the agreement aims at strengthening and extending the economic cooperation by pursuing the much yearned regime of reciprocity between the two economic blocs," the Milan-based think tank wrote.

The deal would also address issues of common concern such as regulations, and particularly those related to "transparency, predictability, and legal certainty of investment conditions," the ISPI analysis added.

Reached after seven years of negotiations, the China-EU investment agreement is widely viewed as a hard-won achievement between the two major economies.

During 35 rounds of negotiations since 2013, China and the EU made high-level market access commitments, formulated balanced and comprehensive rules for fair competition, and strengthened commitments to sustainable development.

"The investment agreement is beneficial to China, the EU and the world," said Li Chenggang, Chinese assistant minister of commerce, when commenting on the deal on Thursday. Enditem